Sunday's pace-lap crash must have been embarrassing for GM's Mark Reuss, a skilled driver with racing licenses and experience pacing the Belle Isle Grand Prix. To his credit, Reuss didn't make excuses for a mishap that other drivers said could have happened to anyone; he was accelerating through a turn in the $135,000 Corvette ZR1 when it hit a pavement change, on a "green" track, and suddenly those 755 horses were headed for the wall. The crash delayed the start of the race by a half hour.
A Corvette ZR1 on a coastline far from Belle Isle. (GM photo)
Henry Payne of the Detroit News says the crash is an illustration of why the next generation of super-powered Corvettes will be mid-engine, all-wheel-drive models, unlike the ZR1.
"As horsepower numbers have skyrocketed in recent years, supercars have gone to mid-engine, all-wheel drive configurations for better stability and better traction," Payne wrote, quoting retired GM engineer Tom Wallace, who added, "Sunday's incident would have been less likely to happen from a fundamentals perspective if he had been driving a mid-engine car. A mid-engine would allow more tolerance so it's easier to put the traction down, while a front-engine car is going to shift to oversteer sooner."
GM is planning to bring its mid-engine 'vette to market for its 2020 model year.
